Helmut Marko

Helmut Marko

Marko in 2016
Born	27 April 1943 Graz, Austria
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Austrian
Active years	1971–1972
Teams	BRM, non-works McLaren
Entries	10 (9 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1971 German Grand Prix
Last entry	1972 French Grand Prix

Marko in 1970

Helmut Marko LL.D., (born 27 April 1943 in Graz, Austria) is an advisor to the Red Bull GmbH Formula One Teams, and head of Red Bull's driver development program and a former racing driver.

He was a school friend of Jochen Rindt,^[1] who was to become Formula One world champion in 1970. Marko competed in several race series, including 10 Formula One Grands Prix in 1971 and 1972, but scored no World Championship points.

He had more success in endurance racing, winning the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving a Martini-Porsche 917K with Gijs van Lennep. During that year, they set a distance record which remained unbeaten until the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans (5,335.313 km, at an average of 222.304 km/h). (Changes to the track reduced the average speed.)

Despite being concerned about poor safety at the Targa Florio, he drove the fastest laps around the 72 km Sicilian mountain circuit in the 1972 race, catching up over two minutes on the leader within two laps to finish second by a mere 17 seconds. His fastest lap in the Alfa Romeo 33 was 33 min 41 sec, at an average of 128.253 km/h.^[2]

A few weeks later on 2 July, during the 1972 French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand, a stone thrown up by Emerson Fittipaldi's Lotus pierced Marko's helmet visor, permanently blinding his left eye and ending his racing career.^[3][4]

Marko became a doctor of law in 1967.^[5] He owns two hotels in Graz – the Schlossberghotel and Augartenhotel. He was manager for Austrian racing drivers Gerhard Berger and Karl Wendlinger for some years before setting up and running RSM Marko in 1989, a race team competing in Formula 3 and Formula 3000; running under the name Red Bull Junior Team from 1999 onwards. From 1999 he has also overseen the Red Bull driver development programme, which has nurtured talented drivers such as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen into Formula One. Since 2005 he has been advisor to the Red Bull Racing Formula One team.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	WDC	Points
1971	Ecurie Bonnier	McLaren M7C	Cosworth V8	RSA	ESP	MON	NED	FRA	GBR	GER DNS						NC	0
	Yardley-BRM	BRM P153	BRM V12								AUT 11	ITA Ret	CAN 12
		BRM P160												USA 13
1972	Austria-Marlboro BRM	BRM P153	BRM V12	ARG 10	RSA 14	ESP										NC	0
		BRM P153B					MON 8	BEL 10
		BRM P160B							FRA Ret	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA
Source:[6]

References

1. Völker, Herbert. "The First Formula One Pop Star". The Red Bulletin September 2010. Red Bull Media House GmbH. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
2. Örnerdal, Stefan. "56th Targa Florio 1972". Formula 2 Register. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
3. A Era dos Campeões (DVD). Hangar Filmes.
4. Williams, Richard (14 November 2010). "Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko, the mastermind behind Sebastian Vettel". The Observer. London: Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
5. Völker, Herbert. "Die Diagnosen des Doktors". Zeit Online. ZEIT ONLINE GmbH. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
6. Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 245. ISBN 0851127029.

External links

• Profile at grandprix.com